Dad, mom and I went to Nanyang Poly to pick Jean up after her NEmation thing (yea, again). We arrived early and had already walked around and entertained ourselves with dessert from the food court. We strolled around the giant fish pond outside while our stomachs worked on the cheng teng. There were protruding platforms on the pond which we made use of to cross over to the other side. While crossing, dad spotted a fish in distress. The water there was shallow because of rocks on the bottom, and the fish was half submerged and stuck there in the narrow canal. Actually, it could have gotten itself out by just making a U turn and navigating its way through the canals between the platforms. However, we over-estimated its intelligence.

Dad came to the rescue. He plucked off a long leaf from a plant standing nearby. He then used the leaf to try to push the fish and make it turn around. I think the fish was just enjoying itself being tickled by the leaf. The pond area was so clean that we couldn't even find a twig lying around. Determined to save the fish, I uprooted a stalk and handed the upgraded tool to dad. After about 5 minutes of coaxing the fish and getting rejected countless times, the fish finally gave in and dad steered it all the way to the safer waters. People walking past must have thought we were fishing in their school pond. Dad thought he had just ruined the fish's game of hide and seek with his friends.

We went to the airport for dinner after that. Mom started recounting the days of when she worked with CAAS. On Saturdays, dad would take me to Changi beach where I'd start filling my yellow bucket with sand. Then we'd head over to pick mom up. Anyway, back to the point. Our main objective was to send liyu and his family off to England. He's going to complete his Phd in theology there. After completing the first part of dinner at Swensens, we got a call from nai nai that he would be boarding soon. So we quickly finished up and left. That was part 1, to be continued later.

There were quite a lot of people gathered at the check in hall, mostly liyu and yanghong's students from Campus Crusade and people from our church. Barnabas and Jerome were still fighting together the whole time like how 4 and 5 year old boys play. When it was time to send them off, Jerome and Barnabas hugged each other. Within seconds, I think one party hugged the other too tightly and both of them landed on the ground where they continued fighting. Yu xin, Jethro, Jean and I just stood there and laughed, reminiscing the times when we used to fight and chase each other around the church.

They'll be there for 3 years. It reminded me of my experience 11 years ago. My family got the send-off as we boarded the plane to US. Today, I had the chance to experience it from a different perspective.

After sending them off, we stayed around to talk a bit, then mom, dad, jean and I went off to Swensens for part 2 of our dinner - dessert. We felt rather weird walking back and meeting the same staff. They must have thought we either liked their food too much or had the habit of eating in installments.

It's 1 am and I'm tired after a long day.